Luggage case



A. M. LEVIN LUGGAGE CASE Dec. 31, 1940.

Filed Nov. 3, 1938 INVENTOR ABRAHAM M LEV/N ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 31,1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LUGGAGE CASE Application November 3,1938, Serial No. 238,597

5 Claims.

The present invention relates to luggage cases and method of securing acovering thereto.

High grade luggage cases consist usually of laminated frames comprisingupper and lower 5 members which are hingedly connected together. Theseframes are usually covered by a decorative fabric, the fabric beingstretched taut and glued to the frame.

It has been the practice in the past to apply the coverings so as toform joints around the top and bottom corners of the case or by formingthe joints around the end corners of the case.

These corner joints usually have been covered by a strip of leatherbeing stitched at both edges to 15 the case. This expediency addedconsiderable cost and weight and did not materially improve theappearance of the case, the stitching adding a further undesirablefeature in that the case is weakened by the closely spaced piercing ofits walls.

An object of the present invention is to apply a single piece ofcovering to the upper and another piece to the lower section of the caseby first cutting pieces from the corners of the coverings whereby theywill stretch smoothly over the entire surface leaving joints along thetransverse corners of the case.

I provide a groove under this joint and force and hold the adjacentedges of the covering into this grove by means of a metal strip. Thegroove will preferably extend around the side corners but the depthbeing gradually decreased so as to terminate before reaching the thinside panels. The strips however, extend preferably for a short distanceover the side panels and being secured at their ends to the panels.

To these and other useful ends my invention consists of parts,combinations of parts or their equivalents as hereinafter set forth andclaimed and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a hand luggage case equipped with thepreferred form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fractional section of the lower portion of the case taken online 2--2 of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a fractional section of the upper portion taken on line 3-3 ofFigure 1.

Fig. 4 is a fractional section of the upper portion of the case taken online 4-4 of Figure 1.

Fig. 5 is a fractional perspective view of a modification.

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Fig. 7 illustrates a piece of covering material having the cornerscut-away preparatory to being applied to the upper frame.

Fig. 8 illustrates a further modification.

As thus illustrated the case to which my invention has been applied asillustrated in Figure 1 comprises a lower section which in its entiretyis designated by reference character A and an upper section which in itsentirety is designated by reference character B.

Sections A and B are hingedly connected together as is the custom incases of the class having locking clasps llll and a suitable carryinghandle which in its entirety is designated by reference character C. Itwill be understood that when the present invention is applied to atrunk, handle C may be dispensed with and the conventional end handlessupplied instead.

The foundation frames of the case are preferably made up of laminatedwood panels (see Figure 2) wherein the inside ply of the end panel ofthe bottom section is designated by reference numeral H, the center plyby reference numeral l2 and the outside ply by reference numeral I 3.Numerals M, l and I6 designate the plys forming the side panels of thebottom frame. The adjacent ends of the laminations are spaced andpreferably shaped as illustrated being secured together by meansof awood strip ll, the joints being glued as is the custom in cases of theclass.

It will be noted that the corners of members A and B are rounded asillustrated so as to give the case a pleasing appearance. To strengthenthe corners I provide a wood strip l8 which is glued to the laminationsand to member H as illustrated thus the panels of the case are, whencompleted, dove-tailed or interlocked together by members I! and I8 andby the projecting ends of plys II and I l.

Thus far I have described the manner of securing the panels together onthe upper and lower sections of the frame. In cases of the class it isnecessary to provide a covering, either of a decorative fabric materialor leather, the fabric covering being preferable because it may be madein variously woven designs and colors and easily weather proofed andglued to the frame.

In applying the covering 25 to the upper frame the material is cut outat the corners as illustrated in Figure 7 forming flaps 26. Members 25and 26 are tightly stretched over the frame and glued thereto. The edgesformed by the cut-away portion meet midway the corners. Previous toapplying the coverings to the frames, I cut a groove 20 in the outersurface of member ll. This groove has a uniform depth for the straightportion of members I! (see Figure 4) but is gradually reduced in depthas it extends around the corner, terminating as at 2| on the front orrear face of the case. The edges of the covering are then glued andfolded into groove 20 and securely held therein in the following manner:

I provide a channel 22 having inturned flanges 2323 the channel beingadapted to fit snugly into groove 20 and thereby hold .the coveringedges into place as illustrated in Figure 2. I provide preferably bolts28, the heads of which loosely fill the space in the channel and thebody of the bolt fitting loosely between flanges 23 thus the bolts areslidably held in the channels and when apertures are made in the casefor their reception they may be moved so as to be easily inserted in theapertures and the channels made taut by means of the nuts 24.

Thus it will be seen that the channels will be held tightly intoposition by means of a suitable number of spaced bolts which passentirely through the panel of the case or through the corner assembly(see Figure 2) to thereby add strength to the assembly, particularly tothe corners as will be apparent by scrutinizing this figure wherein itwill be noted that members I! and I8 are bound together not only bybeing glued but by means of the bolts.

It will be seen that when the covering is once stretched over the caseand the channels secured into position by means of the bolts, a verystrong assembly is provided wherein the covering is securely fastened inthe grooves and the case is made very decorative in appearance. It willalso be seen that the channels are adapted to act as buffers or aprotection to the corners of the case and to the covering.

In Figures 5 and 6 I illustrate a modification wherein a leather shieldis provided. This shield is preferably made of two pieces of leather29-29 the outer edges being stitched to the case as at 3i3--3fi thematerial then being folded over the stitching and into the groove 28 theouter ends terminating near the ends of channels 22 (see Figure 5).

Thus it will be seen that I may provide an additional covering for thecorners of the case. Covering 29 may be made of any suitable materialand given a color which will provide additional value to the case froman artistic stand-point.

In Figure 8 I illustrate a modification wherein the corner grooves aredispensed with. The edges formed by the cut-away portions are covered bymeans of a strip 35 having bolts 36 the heads of which are preferablythin as illustrated and plated so as to have the same appearance as thestrip or these bolt heads may be concealed in a manner too well known torequire further explanation.

The outstanding advantages of my invention are that the case may be madevery light but strong, very pleasing in appearance and that since thechannels or strips are metal, they provide suitable corner mouldings andprotection at the corners for the covering material. A further advantageof the present invention is that the coverings are made from singlepieces of material and are secured to the case without stitching.

Clearly many minor detail changes may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the present invention as recited in the appendedclaims.

Having thus shown and described my invention, I claim:

1. A transverse corner structure for a luggage case comprising panelssecured together by means of transverse members being adapted to embracethe ends of the panels, the panels and transverse pieces being giuedtogether, a groove formed in the apex of one of said transverse members,fabric coverings on said panels the edges extending into said groove, achannel having inturned edges adapted to press and hold said coveringedges into said groove, spaced securing means having heads embraced bysaid channel and shanks adapted to extend through said transversemembers and secured thereto whereby said channel may be tightly held insaid groove.

2. A transverse corner structure for a luggage case comprising panelssecured together by means of transverse members embracing the ends ofsaid panels, the panels and transverse members being glued together, agroove formed in the apex of a transverse member, coverings on oppositesides of said corners, the edges extending into said groove, a channelhaving inturned edges adapted to press and hold said covering edges intosaid groove, bolts whose heads are embraced by said channels and saidbolts having shanks extending through said transverse members wherebysaid channel will be tightly held into said groove, said panels having aprojecting portion on their inner edges, said transverse memberscomprising an outer piece and an inner piece, the outer piece havinggrooves into which said panel projections fit, said inner piece havingedges that project over said panels to thereby form interlocking jointsbetween panels.

3. A transverse corner structure for a luggage case, comprisinglaminated panels, the ends being spaced apart and the inner strip of thelaminations extending past the ends of the outer strips, an outsidecorner strip having surfaces adapted to contact said ends and provide agroove for the reception of said projecting strip, an inside stripadapted to contact the inner surface of said first strip and extending adistance over the inner surface of said panels whereby said projectinglaminations are embraced by said two strips, said strips being gluedtogether and'to said panels, coverings secured to the outer surface ofsaid panels and outer strips their edges meeting midway said firststrip, a metal strip having holding bolts which extend through saidcorner strips adapted to press the edges of said coverings into saidfirst strip.

4. A curved corner structure for a luggage case comprising side and endpanels secured together by means of a transverse member adapted toembrace the ends of the panels, fabric coverings on said panels, theedges of said coverings extending over the curved corner structure, acurved channel having inturned edges adapted to overlie the edges ofsaid fabric coverings, securing means having heads embraced by theinturned edges of said channel and shanks adapted to extend through saidtransverse member and be secured thereto whereby said channel may betightly held in position.

5. A curved corner structure for a luggage case comprising side and endpanels having spaced ends and a main panel secured thereto by means of atransverse member adapted to contact and be secured to the ends andinside surfaces of said side and end panels and to the inside surface ofsaid main panel, fabric coverings on said panels, the edges of saidcoverings extending over the corner structure, a curved channel havinginturned edges adapted to overlie the edges of said fabric coverings,securing means having heads embraced by the inturned edges of saidchannel and shanks adapted to extend through said transverse member andbe secured thereto whereby said channel may be tightly held in position.

ABRAHAM M. LEVIN.

